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DayBreaks for 2/12/2019:I AM #2: The Truth

John 14:5-6 (ESV) – Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me…”

Webster’s says truth is “the body of true statements and propositions.” It seems we live in a time when truth is an endangered species. It has been taught in universities and colleges for long enough now that people believe truth is relative – that we each can have our own truth. Not even Webster’s agrees with that.

Jesus claims that he is literally the truth – not just that he told the truth. I like how the Webster’s definition fits with that statement. Jesus literally embodied and encompasses all truth. He didn’t bend the truth to make listeners more comfortable or to avoid conflict. He spoke the truth tenderly to those who were fragile, but forcefully to those who should have recognized truth.

In my experience, everything Jesus ever said is true. The Sermon on the Mount, the other discourses all are true statements when properly understood.

Think about what life would be like if Jesus were a liar. What, then, would you hang your hopes for life on? Your own truth? How many times has your own “truth” failed you? Mine has failed me more times than I can count!

Truth is absolute. It is not relative. It deals in the realm of facts, not hyperbole or guesses. It doesn’t vary from person to person. Our perceptions of say, a car accident, may vary, but the true facts don’t change with the telling of the story.

Since Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever, and since he is the truth, that means that the truth he taught and his apostle taught under inspiration never change, either. And that’s a comforting thought!

PRAYER: Help us see and understand the truth that is embodied in you, Jesus, and not be fooled by our culture. In your name, Amen.

DayBreaks for 12/06/17: Non-Negotiable Truth

NOTE: Galen is traveling for the next few days.

From the DayBreaks archive, December 2007:

Not too long ago, George Barna’s research said that only 9% of teenagers who call themselves “born-again Christians” believe in such a thing as moral absolutes. Only 4% of non-born again teens believe in moral absolutes. It would be interesting to see what the statistics say for adults who consider themselves Christians. I’m sure that piece of data is out there, but I don’t have it readily available at this writing. But, it’s not really necessary. If these statistics are real, the point is made. And why, one might ask, would born-again Christian teens not think that there are moral absolutes? Most likely it’s because their parents and churches haven’t taught them that there are moral absolutes. We’ve abdicated the reasoning and logical powers of our youth to relativistic teachers and postmodern deconstructionists who have twisted and blinded their eyes. And I believe most who call themselves Christians but who are adults, have the same problem.

In his book, The New Absolutes,William Watkins cited several studies and then concluded, “Roughly three out of four Americans claimed they embraced relativism and opposed absolutism.” (p. 26)

But wait: isn’t the statement, “there is no absolute truth” a contradiction in and of itself? Isn’t it a statement that purports to make an absolute truth statement even while denying the existence of absolute truth? Of course it is. See how easy it is to swallow Satan’s baited hook?

Maybe some of you who are reading this are saying right now: “But there are no absolute truths.” Okay, let’s test that hypothesis right now. For those who think that there are no absolutes, at lunchtime today, I want you to go into the lavatory, fill the sink with water, and put your head in and hold it totally underwater for 45 minutes breathing nothing but water. Then, come out and tell me if there is absolute truth about this statement one way or another: “Breathing water for humans is just as good as breathing air.”

Some truths are not negotiable, they are absolute. It matters whether you breathe water or oxygen. If you breathe water you will drown for long enough, it is an absolute truth. I guarantee it!

Maybe you are going to the doctor in the next few days. When he/she prescribes something for you, do you want the precise dosage, or do you want them to tell you that “it doesn’t matter how much you take – take whatever you want to”? I don’t know about you, but when I go to the doctor, I want him to tell me the right dosage of medication I need. It wouldn’t be right for him to say to me, “Take as much as you want.” Too much could kill me, not enough wouldn’t help me; I need the right dosage. There is absolute truth in this, too!

Maybe you’re flying somewhere this week or for the holidays. When you get to the airport, do you want the counter person to tell you which is the correct gate and flight and departure time, or to say, “You know, it really doesn’t matter which plane you get on, they all will take you somewhere sometime – maybe even all will take you to the same place.” No thanks. Not for me. I want to know the absolute truth about what flight to get on to wind up where I want to be.

Perhaps you’re saying, “Sure, Galen, but those are physical things. I’m talking about spiritual absolutes – and there are none of them.” Again, a self-refuting claim. To accurately make such a claim, one would have to know every possible fact about spiritual things. If there is a single spiritual truth that someone doesn’t know or have, that one truth might just well be that there are absolute spiritual realities. Jesus said there is absolute truth – and He is IT!

With all due respect to the majority opinion in our society, there is an absolute truth. Jesus said, … I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:6 KJV

PRAYER: Give us the wisdom to recognize falsehood when it comes disguised as so-called “wisdom” and eyes to see that Jesus is the Absolute Spiritual Truth. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

NOTE: From the DayBreaks archive, dated 3/09/2004. Galen is traveling this week. New DayBreaks will resume next week.

There is so much going on in our country right now that really frightens me. (That was originally written 10 years ago – and we can see the chickens coming home to roost today!) We have lost our moral footing – the basis on which we make moral judgments and decisions. And, as a talk show host I was listening to the other day said, we seem to be on the verge of anarchy.

We have mayors of cities deciding that they will not obey the laws of the constitutions of their states, even after the state attorney general has stated that by NOT abiding by the laws on the books that the governors are breaking the law. So what do they do? They say, in effect, “I don’t care what the law says. I’m going to do what I think is right.” On what grounds do they decide the rightness and wrongness of an action? Seemingly based on either personal, or political biases.

The talk show had a caller who was wondering how to explain to his kids why same-sex marriage or abortion or many other things are wrong without “bringing God into it” and “without offending them”. Well, therein lies the problem. As Christians, we can’t not bring God into the discussion. When we leave Him out in the cold, we betray Him. We don’t have a God-given right to decide for ourselves what is morally acceptable and what is not. If you are a Christian, you have no choice – God is God, the Decider and Author of morality, or He isn’t. His Word is truth – or it isn’t. That doesn’t mean we have to like what it says(in fact, we may really not like it!), but that really isn’t the issue when it comes to the Lordship of Jesus now, is it? If He is Lord, He speaks…we listen, we obey. Period. That’s it. And if that’s not how it is, then we’re just playing a game.

So, what’s wrong with our society? The name of God can’t be mentioned without causing offense, as the father on the phone noted. So what, I ask? Should that be surprising? Didn’t 1 Cor. 1:23 (NLT) tell us that people will be offended by the truth: “So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended, and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense”? When we are too afraid to speak the truth because we’re afraid to offend someone, we are focusing on the wrong thing. Truth can save lives and souls! People get over offenses, given time. Don’t misunderstand me – we are not to be offensive – we are to love and speak the truth in love. It is the truth about Jesus and what He taught that people find offensive because they don’t like the fact that the truth is like salt rubbed in a wound when it applies to something we’re doing that is wrong. People don’t like it…but that salt in the wound may be the only thing that keeps the wound from putrifying, turning gangrenous, and causing death or mutilation. The problem in our country is that God is being left out of the discussion on morality. We’ve lost our spine as Christians because we’re like the dad who was afraid of “offending” his children by bringing God into the discussion. Or worse yet – because of our own cowardice. Would that father be worried about offending his kids by telling them to stay away from drug dealers and from using drugs? No! Why? Because he cares about his children. Why don’t we seem to care about our children’s morality!?! Or our own?

And as for the argument that if something isn’t specifically prohibited in the state constitution – let’s just take that at face value for a minute. I wonder if there is anything in the state constitution that specifically prohibits marrying a dog, or a cow, or a tree? How about marrying one’s mother, father, brother or sister? I wonder if there is anything in the state constitution that prohibits pedophilia, or necrophilia? I doubt it. But if we follow the line of reasoning that some folks are taking, why shouldn’t those things be allowed, too? After all, if someone decided that it’s OK for them, that they disagree with the law, if one person can say that and get away with it, why can’t everyone? Why can’t people kill and give drugs to kids and just tell the cops that they didn’t agree with the law and then be allowed to go free? And what happens when a NASA scientist programming the re-entry burn for our next astronauts decides that he doesn’t agree with the laws of physics, or that 2+2=4? Someone dies. And would anyone accept his argument that it was OK because he didn’t like the laws of math and physics? No one would accept such anarchy. Why do we accept it in the moral realm? I know, I know, we can’t expect non-Christians to behave like Christians, and I don’t – but God expects Christians to act like Christians – like “little Jesus Christ’s”. What do you think He’d say about what’s going on in our country?

You see, we can’t have it both ways. Either there is objective, universal truth found in God’s Word – or there isn’t. What do you believe? No, I take that back. That’s the wrong question. Here’s a more appropriate one for us at all times: what does God say about it – and will we stand up for it?

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